Tips, Blurbs, and Using Set Themes

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a good weekend. Stormy on Saturday, sunny on Sunday – typical for the UK! Lady had a lovely time and very busy on the writing and editing front, which I love. Will be sharing good news soon.

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Hope you have had a good day. Weather changeable but Lady had a lovely play time – and the zoomies – with her best pal, the Rhodesian Ridgeback today.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Why Write Fiction on Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. Looking forward to sharing that. I do answer the question, you’ll be glad to hear.

I was pleased to recommend two fictional historical books and one non-fiction one at an online meeting last night. Good fun. (For the record I recommended The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, The Sunne In Splendour by Sharon Penman, and London by Peter Ackroyd. All excellent reads and different in style).

Character Tip: Think of one character you have already written or are thinking about writing up into a story and then name three things you would associate with them. May well prove to be useful additional information for you character outline.

This is especially useful if you haven’t already thought of three things so ask yourself three questions you know you haven’t already done. If you know about their physical appearance, think about what makes them tick. If you know the latter, think about what they would never wear or always wear etc. It will show you more about them and you are bound to find a use for that.

Hope you have had a good start to the week. Mine has been hectic but then it usually is on a Monday. Lady has had an excellent start to her week because she got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback bestie for the first time in a few days and saw her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Win-win, or perhaps as they would say, woof-woof!

Time Tip: Don’t worry about those days when you know you can’t get much writing done. Mondays are always like that for me. I focus on doing “little bits and pieces” so I can save my longer periods of writing time later in the week for bigger stretches of work. Not only is this efficient, I feel I have done something useful with the small pockets of time I have had and it ensures those are not wasted.

Hope the weekend has been a good one. Nice to see calmer, sunnier weather today. Lady and I appreciated it over the park earlier.

Loved going to The Chameleons Open Evening last night which was their way of celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. I will write about this for Chandler’s Ford Today in a couple of weeks time.

Writing Tip: It is worth keeping an eye out on writing competitions for another reason, especially the ones with a theme set for you. Why?

Simply because I’ve sometimes come across those I would have loved to have entered but know I cannot get anything in for the deadline. So I use the theme as a prompt and write my story up later. The same theme may come up again at some point. They often do. If not, I have another story to put towards another collection.

A soggy Saturday here though so far the rain hasn’t been as bad as predicted. Hope it stays that way especially as I’m off to The Chameleons Open Evening later on.

Writing wise, I’ll be asking a leading question for Chandler’s Ford Today next week when I discuss Why Write Fiction? Link will be up on Friday for that one.

If you write articles for a magazine with an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) it is worth putting your articles down on your listing with the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). It makes a big difference to your payment received and the good news is online magazines can have an ISSN. I list my articles for Writers’ Narrative with ALCS, for example. To find out more about ALCS, do check out the link.


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I love writing quirky tales from time to time, often with a humorous twist. Flash is the ideal format for these, I think, because they work best when kept to a tight word count. (You don’t want the “laugh” being dragged out – flash won’t allow you to do that).

Usually with these I do know the ending first and then work out how I could have got to this point. It means my structure is a logical one and I often do these with any of my twist flashes and short stories, regardless of the story mood. I find it works. A twist, humorous or otherwise, does have to have a solid foundation behind it. Without that, it won’t convince the reader.

It’s Monday. Hectic as ever and time for a story then. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Need to Know. Am sure you will understand Bill in this one.

What does the need for secrecy, Wendy, doughnuts, and a new bakery in town, all have in common? Answer: Bill. Find out why and what here.

 

I mix up the ways I come up with ideas for flash fiction and other stories. I do this to keep me on my creative toes but it is a good idea anyway. You don’t want to miss out on possible sources of inspiration after all.

So I use various random generators (and will mix up the parameters I set on these too as that gives me further ideas), books of proverbs and phrases, story dice, books of prompts (and I’ve contributed to some of these – good fun to do) and, of course, from Flash NANO. As mentioned on my author page, I will use set themes from competitions as prompts whether or not I enter the contest. I should add prompts are a regular feature of Writers’ Narrative too. Check out the latest issue at the link below.

 

If you’re in the UK, I hope you’ve managed to dodge the heavy rain today!

Do keep an eye out for flash fiction competitions. There are plenty out there and some short story ones add flash on as a category or allow your minimum word count to be 1000 words, which is at the top end of flash. There are opportunities out there.

Flash is also easy to share on your social media platforms and your website. Doesn’t take up too much room and gives followers a taster of your writing style. Besides it is fun to do and I love playing with genres and setting my characters in all sorts of situations. Give it a go! I’ve found it has also sharpened up the other writing I do, which is no bad thing either.

Goodreads Author Blog – Blurbs

A brilliant blurb is an excellent draw for me to buy the book it is on. Tricky to write though! (I do think writing flash fiction regularly at least gives you practice in writing to the word count required for blurbs but I am biased here given flash is what I do).

What I want from a good blurb is a taster of the book. I must have an idea of who the lead is and the problem (the major one) the character is facing. I have then got to feel as if I must read on to find out what happens. If successful in making me do that, the blurb has done its job!

Blurbs are best kept short. You do just want a taste, not the whole buffet, but it has to be enough of a taster and that is the tricky bit to get right, I think.

Mind you reading lots of books and seeing how other authors have done this is a great way to learn for when you hopefully get to do this for yourself! Not that I need encouraging to read more, mind you. That is always a great thing to do whether you write as well or not.

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June 2025 edition shared further up but please do see the March 2025 edition below. Always worth a re-read or two! Ties in nicely with my comments about historical fiction and non-fiction further up.

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Thoughts on Editing

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Mixed bag weather wise but the train is welcome (grass has been looking sorry for itself). Writing wise, lots going on and I hope to share some very exciting news on this soon.

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Pleased to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, Thoughts on Editing. Naturally I am biased on this topic given I am an editor but I share useful thoughts and tips on editing anything (yes, really). Hope you find the post informative and practical.

Am off to The Chameleons Open Evening tomorrow (7th June) as they are holding this to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. Congratulations to them all. They put on some wonderful plays so if you have a chance to get to one or more, do go.

The Open Evening is on from 6 pm to 9 pm and will be at the Ritchie Hall in Chandler’s Ford. All welcome to go and find out more about what it takes to put on a performance. Volunteers always wanted for roles on and off the stage. 

Thoughts on Editing

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Hope today has been okay. Another soggy one but Lady got to play in front of her Hungarian Vizler chum again so all is well with their worlds! Not sorry about the rain. Grass needs it. Relieved it’s not coming down as a torrential downpour which just floods everywhere. Rain coming down at a steady rate means the ground is more likely to make better use of it. Also Lady and I get damp rather than soaked so there is that as well!

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above.

Will be off to visit The Chameleons as they hold their Open Evening to celebrate their 60th anniversary on Saturday evening. Hope to catch up with my lovely editor at Chandler’s Ford Today there as well.

Character Tip: What draws you (or repels you) to the character you’re writing about? There has to be a strong reason why you want to write their story up whether they’re going to be the hero of the villain. This all ties in with character motivation of course but I do think this is a huge driver for any story to be a success, regardless of its length.

Hope today has been a good Wednesday for you. Lady showed off in front of her Hungarian Vizler pal again today. The latter looks on Lady playing, almost as if she was being an indulgent granny watching her favourite grandchild! Lady just has a fabulous time (but I am sure she is aware she is showing off!).

Writing wise, am looking forward to going to an online sci-fi and fantasy group (run by the Association of Christian Writers) later this evening. Always good fun. Am making good progress on a longer short story too. Group was great fun. Longer short story on the back burner for the moment. Things have cropped up but I hope to share news of this soon.

I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday – it is always a timely topic especially given I am editing away at the moment and loving it. See above.

 

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Delighted to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble (100 worder), Starting Over. Find out what role the “umbrella from hell” has to play in Mary’s life here.

I mentioned yesterday about using flash to play with genre (see below) but inevitably my favourite genres come through in my flash fiction stories.

For me, these are what I call fairytales with bite (humorous fantasy, sometimes grimmer fantasy!), historical fiction, crime and many more but I would say these are my main three.

There is often a strong element of justice being done in many of my stories too which crosses the genres but I know for me is inspired by my love of the classic fairytales. The rotters rarely get away with it in those tales. You know the comeuppance is coming. The great thing with flash tales is that comeuppance comes very quickly, sometimes in only 100 words!

One of the things I enjoy most about writing flash fiction is the opportunity it gives me to play with character and, therefore, genre. I can and do set my characters, some of whom are definitely not human, in all kinds of settings and back and forwards in time as well.

What I focus on is making my character believable as I mentioned the other day. Their world may be fantastic. But their actions and attitudes should always be relatable. (Not necessarily agreeable though!).

Fairytales with Bite – Seasonal Magic

In your magical setting, do the seasons, whether they’re the same as ours or not, play havoc with a character’s magical abilities? Does the availability of natural light, or its lack, change what your characters can do or limit their powers in some other way? If it does, can this be overcome by what they would consider artificial means?

Can enemies take advantage of when powers are “down” due to seasonal fluctuations? What would your world do to protect itself against that?

Equally when there is an abundance of natural energy (not necessarily light though this is an obvious one to think about), does that boost your character’s magical powers and how can they make the most of this while this lasts? Can your world take advantage of this against their enemies?

Certainly I wouldn’t think it unreasonable for lack of light or other energy source to have a direct ability on someone’s magical capacity in stories. It an also limit the powers of magic forcing your characters to find other ways to resolve their problems. There will be interesting story ideas to emerge from that.

This World and Others – Times

Time is a major factor in all of our lives and that goes for our characters too. Even the superheroes need their down time. So what kind of down time would your characters need (other than the obvious ones of food, drink, rest) and how would they get this time off?

How is time measured in your setting? Are the lengths of days and nights the same as ours, or are they wildly different and, if the latter why is that the case? This has a direct impact on what could be grown in your setting too and what your characters are likely to be able to eat. It would then in turn have an impact on the kinds of employment in your setting too. If only certain items of food can be grown, your setting would need workers for that, others to process it for the general market and so on.

The way time works in your setting will have an impact on what you characters could get done in a typical “day”. That will have an impact on how long they will need to fulfil their quest or whatever task you’ve set them to do. Of course if they have more time in a day than we do, that could help them a lot!

But it pays to plan out how time will work in your setting.

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Tips, Writers’ Narrative, and Defining a Good Read

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Image of me holding Creativity Matters, From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic was taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to The Chameleon Theatre Company for permission to use the photos in the bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post shared below.
Hope you have a good weekend. Mine encompassed the glamour of wood treating a fence panel to getting on with my writing. Both creative in their way though, I suppose!

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Today has been somewhat soggy but Lady didn’t mind. She got to see her Hungarian Vziler pal again today and Lady never frets about the rain. She’s got a good coat, she can shake it all over Mum, so why worry?

Writing wise, hope to share some exciting news soon. Looking forward to being able to do that. Watch this space as they say.

Apologies for forgetting to put a title to my June newsletter – oops! But many thanks to all my subscribers. Your support is much appreciated. Other than that little faux pas, I have found the transfer over to MailerLite to be painless, I’m glad to say.

Character Tip: Whatever kind of character you create – and I have many non-human ones in my cast list – they still have to be understandable to readers.

So motivations and wants need to be clear and we should be able to see why someone would do something. Nothing is to “come out of the blue” – nobody ever believes that.

Hope Monday hasn’t been too bad. Busy one here as always. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today so her week has got off to a good start.

Writing Tip: Want a quick easy outline for a story? Just ask two questions.

  1. What does your character want?
  2. What gets in their way?

In fleshing the answers out to those, you will be off to a flying start with your outline and the resulting story. All stories need a structure and those two questions give your tale a great “backbone”.

Hope the weekend has been a good one for you. Still can’t quite believe it’s June already.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Thoughts on Editing for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. It is always a timely topic and I share tips which have proved useful for me as a writer and as an editor.

Looking forward to popping along to The Chameleons’ Open Evening later this week too.

Pleased to say my author newsletter went out again today. It’s only the second one I’ve sent using the new service provider. All well so far and pleased to be able to schedule it too.

Glad to catch up with some friends from Swanwick on a Zoom session last night. Good way to keep in touch.

31st May –  First Post – Bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post
Two posts from me tonight. First up is a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post. As you know, I often go and see plays performed by our excellent local theatre company, The Chameleons. They’re celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and are holding an Open Evening next weekend (Saturday 7th June). More details in the post but if you can get along, they will be pleased to see you.

The Chameleons – Open Evening – 7th June 2025 – Celebrating 60 Years of Drama

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31st May – Second Post – June 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative

Second post and I’m pleased to say the June edition of Writers’ Narrative is now available. See link below.

The theme is on Worldbuilding (which comes into various forms of fiction and not just fantasy and sci-fi – e.g. crime fiction has to set its world too, you need to know era for one thing).

I share Five Top Writing Tips, useful for whatever you write. Do enjoy a cracking read.

 

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Flash fiction helps with other forms of writing in all sorts of ways.

Writing to one line sentences, as I set recently for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group, can be used to help practice writing straplines. Longer flashes (say up to 500 words) can be used to help get you used to writing to the word count needed for a synopsis.

Plus it can be used as a warm up exercise ahead of your main writing work and, as I’ve mentioned before, you could polish those pieces up and get them out for competitions etc.

Well worth trying. I find writing flash to be an absorbing challenge.

It’s Monday. Time for another story. Hope you like my latest one on YouTube – Taking Time.

Can the old Master of Time live up to his reputation when put to the ultimate test? Find out here. This is one of my fairytales with bite.

 

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday afternoon shortly. Need to look out some more competitions soon to have a try at but that may well need to wait until next weekend. Am happily busy elsewhere, writing wise.

I’ve always loved the way The Bridport Prize describes flash fiction – as the “art of just enough”. Sums it up so well. Inference is a powerful tool in the flash format. Picking the right telling detail about your character and/or setting can leave much else to be inferred but readers will pick up on this.

I know I love it in any length of story when an author doesn’t tell me every single thing. I like to work things out. All that is needed are the right clues to do that.

Flash fiction writing is great practice in working out what you do need to reveal and what you can leave to be implied. As such it is an excellent writing exercise. But the better news is there are opportunities for being published and competitions for those flash pieces you come up with.


Had a lovely morning wood treating a fence panel – I know it’s all glamour here! Lady was enjoying the cool indoors. (I also cannot trust her to not want to stick her nose in the wood treatment pot. She is a curious animal but sometimes there is such as thing as too much curiosity!).

Writing wise, pleased to say the June 2025 edition of Writers’ Narrative is out – theme is Worldbuilding. Every fiction writer does this to a certain extent. Even in flash fiction I have to show a reader where my story is, sometimes indicate era and so on. Link to the magazine shared via my author page. See above.

Last but not least, my author newsletter is out tomorrow. Can’t believe we’re almost at June already. I share news, tips, and links to my flash stories online in the newsletter. To sign up head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

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Goodreads Author Blog – Defining a Good Read

How would you define a good read? For me, it is any story of any length and genre, where I have to read through to the finish. Usually it is the character which grips me. Sometimes it’s an intriguing premise. The very best stories have both of those.

But I have been just as entertained and gripped by a well crafted 100 word story as I have been by the other end of the scale, a 100,000 word novel.

I like a wide variety of genres though my favourites are fantasy, fairytales especially, history (fiction and non-fiction) and crime.

Thankfully I have not abandoned many stories of any length because they haven’t engaged but in those cases where it did happen, I know it was because I wasn’t convinced by the characterisation, yet alone gripped by it. Still in a way this is useful. I know what I like and dislike here so I can avoid making the same mistakes in my own work.

Life is too short to not have good reads in your reading pile!

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History and Stories/Writing for Online Magazines

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All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week so far. Mixed bag, weather wise, but Lady has seen her chums most of the week so is happy. Writing and editing going well. Booked for a writing event later in the year (and that kind of thing always makes me smile. Have something to look forward to later).

It’s double blog time. Firstly, Chandler’s Ford Today and, secondly, More than Writers.

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Delighted to be back on Chandler’s Ford Today with my latest post, History and Stories. I love history and stories and, of course, history is full of tales. 

Also as a topic, there are wonderful stories in both the historical fiction and non-fiction departments here, so you will never be short of something intriguing to read (and learn from).

I look at untold history too (what could all of those servants from years gone by have to share with us if they were able to do so? Food for thought or fiction writers there!).

I share how it is possible to write historical flash fiction and how you can “drop” history into a story even if you’re not specifically writing in the genre. Plenty to read and digest here. Hope you enjoy the post.

History and Stories

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More than Writers

Am delighted to be back on More than Writers, the blog spot of the Association of Christian Writers, with my latest post on Writing For Online Magazines.

Well, they do say you should write what you know and given I write for two online magazines… (Chandler’s Ford Today and Writers’ Narrative), I felt this was an apt topic!

I hope you find the post useful as I share useful thoughts and tips about this kind of writing.

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Hope you have had a good day. Weather much nicer today and Lady loved seeing her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals again.

Booked my writing event for later in the year. Will sort out train tickets later (though I have got the ones I need for Swanwick – those arrived last week! Sometimes at least I can get a good discount on booking early so this is not as mad as it may seem, honest. Looking forward to Swanwick and the other writing event already).

Looking forward, much nearer in time, to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting on Zoom. That happens tonight! (Wednesday 28th May to be precise!).

Writing Tip: Use your own love of stories (and their characters) to work out what you want your stories and characters to be. I know I like characters who do something to try to help themselves, even if they don’t succeed, so will base at least some of my characters on that kind of being. Not all of my characters are human – other beings can try hard and have their failures too! It will be the effort to try to do something which readers will sympathise with.

I’ve never had time for tales where good things happen to the “hero” thanks only to rotten things happening to other characters. I want my people/other beings to earn their successes.

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Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, George The Butterfly Tamer.

The title idea came from an exercise I’ve set so I thought I would go on to see if I could write the story up to go with it.

Hope you enjoy the tale – it’s a mixture of horror and humour (and could be described as one of my fairytales with bite).

Wonderful meeting of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting last night. Amongst other things connected to the theme of Tens, we had fun with writing ten word stories. No more, no less.

Why not give it a go? It’s fun. It’s also useful practice for writing a strapline for any longer work you are writing. Why?

The ideal strapline isn’t too long! Indeed my one for From Light to Dark and Back Again comes in at exactly ten words with A collection of very short stories to suit every mood. Does what it says, folks!

As for my thoughts on ten word stories, here are those I shared last night.

Mary rammed the umbrella from hell into the park bin.

The aliens diverted past Earth, as they’d heard about humans.

Mark refused to swim in the sea, he’d seen Jaws.

Sarah unintentionally shared salad with some slugs and a caterpillar.

The fairy slammed her wand down, beaten by an amateur.

Hope you like those though I appreciate the one involving Sarah may make you wince! I could, if I wanted to, expand these stories further later on and use them as closing or opening lines too.

Will be sharing thoughts on “tens” in flash fiction as part of the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting later this evening. I prepare my PowerPoints for these meetings during the month (as I do with my newsletters) so there isn’t one big rush as the relevant date is coming up. I like things which take the pressure off. I also find it fun to compile things as I go. Gives me plenty of editing time later in the month too, which is always a good thing.

When I haven’t a lot of time to write, and I am itching to write something (which is my state of mind most of the time!), I will brainstorm, have a go at a writing exercise, or draft a flash tale. All great things to have a crack at when I only have five minutes, ten minutes or what have you. And I get something drafted I can polish up later.

Fairytales with Bite – Putting On a Show

How would your characters hide their real feelings in a magical world where mind reading, telepathy etc are likely to be commonplace? How good are your characters at “putting on a show” here? We all have to cover up true feelings at times (and sometimes for the best of reasons. For example, we’re sparing others who have gone through worse our problems).

But we don’t have to get around magical powers. Your characters may well have to do so. What can they use to help them here? Are mind blocks a thing in your setting or can only those of a certain status use these? Can your characters have filters to limit the scope of telepathy being used on them rather than by them?

Are certain kinds of characters better at putting on a show like this than others and , if so, what are the reasons for these? Plenty of practice perhaps? Survival depending on it? (Is that still the case now or a historical element?).

Plenty of food for story thought there, I hope.

This World and Others – What Society Expects

What does your fictional society expect from your characters and why? Are the same standards applied to all or only to some? Why any discrimination? Could there be good cause for it?

Where do the expectations come from? History (and all the nastier elements of that leading society to realise it has to have certain standards of behaviour to try to prevent these things happening again)? Faith of any kind? How does your society treat those who rebel against it and are they right to take the line they do?

Good story thoughts can come from looking at how your society has developed over time and what/who were the causes for changes? Is your society grateful for those changes and those behind them? Is there anyone who resents/tries to resist these? (I am thinking of the Luddites here who smashed machinery fearing job losses but you could take that idea further and apply it to your setting and people).

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Book Reviews, Editing, and Writing Superpowers

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Hope the weekend went well. Good to be back in the garden again. Lawn grateful I was I think! Pleased to see lovely foxgloves in flower too. Writing wise, am pretty much back to my normal routine and enjoying that. Lady, as ever, appreciates the company of her pals at the park. We appreciate the little things in life. They’re often more important to you than you might think. Know this is true for me and the dog!

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Hope you’ve had a good day. Soggy one here in Hampshire though Lady was delighted to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback pal again. Both dogs had a lovely time in the park before the rain set in.

Writing wise, will have further editing work coming up shortly. Looking forward to starting on that.

There will also be a bonus Chandler’s Ford Today post on Saturday this week from me as I’m publicizing The Chameleons’ Open Evening on 7th June. They’re celebrating their 60th anniversary this year and are inviting people to see what they do (and where they need volunteers) on and off the stage.

Plus I will be looking at History and Stories in my usual Friday night slot where I look at the links between history and stories and why I love both. (Nice link here as The Chameleons have acted out many wonderful stories, some of them history based, over their 60 years on the stage).

Stories, whether as prose or plays, can explore history and shed new insights on it.

Bank holiday here today in my part of the world. Lady was thrilled to see her Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler pals today. We either see all we know on a bank holiday or nobody at all – there is no middle ground!

Had a quick look at the random question generator I use every so often to trigger story ideas. Usually the question gives me the theme I write to (and my characters answer the question, it literally is the story).

The question which came up tonight was if you could have one superpower what would it be? Now that is a fabulous question and I’m sure an article or two could be written around it but I wondered about answering it for this post from a writing viewpoint.

So which writing superpower would I like to have? I think it would be the ability to keep writing, no matter what. I wouldn’t ask to write perfectly from the get go because I think a lot of excellent stories come about thanks to having decent editing work done on them.

But to keep going whenever and whatever the circumstances, that would be a good thing to have. It isn’t always easy to do this so having a superpower boosting me here would be most welcome.

Hope the weekend is proving to be a good one for you. Cut the lawn yesterday. Desperately needed doing. Looking much better now and it was a great workout for me!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again too. (I know. I can hardly believe is is almost June either). You can sign up at my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing wise, I’m working on a longer short story as well as my usual flash work at the moment. Have put final touches to my presentation for the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group for Wednesday. Now done! Will be back to blogging and editing shortly. I do like a good mix of things to do!

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Have got to the end of the first week back from our wonderful Northumberland break. Always tough, the first week back from any kind of break but hey I’m there so now it is a case of onwards and upwards.

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at History and Stories for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. I love history. I love stories. History is full of stories. It’s a gem of a topic to write about! I’ve also found reading historical fiction has led to me reading historical non-fiction too but more on this in my post on Friday.

Character Tip: Remember it isn’t compulsory to like the characters you create, far from it, but you do need to know what drives and motivates them so you can write their stories up with understanding of where they are coming from and why.

For villains, you do need to look at why they have become that way. Not all of that will make it into your finished tale but enough should so readers can see why they’re being the way they are too.

If, say, your villain is driven by the need to make money a line of dialogue with another character or their own thought showing their need for enough money will create that understanding.

Readers (and you) still don’t need to approve of how they go about things here.

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Hope today has been a good one. Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group tomorrow. The topic is Tens. Looking forward to seeing everyone then. Zoom has made more things possible including writing groups like this one.

Am hoping to go an in-person ACW meeting later this year but have to book it first. Hope to do that in next couple of days. I like a good mixture of in person and online events. In a world which is far from perfect, why not have the best of both worlds when it comes to meeting with other writers?

Flash is also wonderful to share in any kind of workshop and/or writing group given it is short. I’ve always found stories illustrate points well. People remember the stories. (This is nothing new, far from it. Jesus did this with parables. Aesop did it with his fables too. All would count as flash fiction as we know it now).


It’s a Bank Holiday Monday where I am but it is still Monday. Time for a story then and I hope you like my latest on YouTube – Mixing It Up.

What harm could it do to mix up the dragons’ magical foodstuff and give it to the butterflies instead? George thinks it will be okay but is he right to do so?

 

Titles are important for any story (or article come to that) given they’re the first hook to entice a reader into reading your work. 

For flash fiction, I try and use mine to do some “heavy lifting” in terms of indicating to a reader the tale’s probable mood without using up any of my precious word count. (Most flash competitions don’t include the title in the limit they set you but there are always exceptions so do check).

I also use titles as a brainstorming exercise. It’s fun to do too. Why not give it a try?

Writing Exercise: Give yourself five minutes. Jot down as many three to five word titles as you can in that time. It helps to think along the lines of Subject and Action (a refusal to act will count as an action). Also consider Subject and Job.

You are looking for two immediate hooks here. People will want to know about your subject depending on what action or job you’ve given them in the title.

For example, how about George, the Butterfly Tamer, as an idea. I would immediately want to know who George is, how can anyone tame butterflies, and why does anything think it is needed. The story would reveal the answer to those questions but I’ve got to read it to find out. Job done by the author there I think! Do see my YouTube story for this week too – see above. I wrote this post first then decided to write the story up with just the title to go with. Good fun to do.

I’ve also found when I do this exercise once I get started, a whole raft of other ideas come. Later, I will review my title lists and the ones which still appeal to me are the ones I will write up. But this exercise is definitely worth trying. Hope you have fun with it.

Looking forward to the next meeting of the Association of Christian Writers’ Flash Fiction Group on Zoom on Wednesday. Have set what I hope will be an intriguing theme (Tens – what would you make of that?) Alas, I’m not telling all here, but it is fun coming up with different ideas for these meetings and, of course, a good challenge to me.

Whatever you write, doing something different every now and then is a good challenge and will help sharpen up your other writing – or at least I’ve found that to be the case. It’s another good reason to enter story competitions every now and then (but do check the competition background out first and ensure you’re happy with it). Again, it makes you do something different, you are often set the prompt and it is a good challenge to see what you can do with it.

(Am also pleased because when I relax I play with words too. Have today got the word rewrites out in my phone’s equivalent of Scrabble. All seven tiles out so I get the bonus points too. Apt word for a writer and editor, I think!).

Goodreads Author Blog – Book Reviews

Do you read book reviews? I do. As a writer myself, I appreciate the reviews which come in on my books but I also like to write reviews on works by other authors. Other than buying the book itself, reviewing is probably the next best way to support authors. I keep my reviews short and would put in a plea to review when you can. It helps more than you know.

I try to review the moment I’ve finished a book whether it’s on Kindle or in print. Otherwise, I know I may well forget to do it. Life getting in the way and all of that…

The best reviews give a good flavour of what the book is about without giving too much away. The good news is they don’t have to be long to be effective.

Why not review the book you are currently reading? Doesn’t have to be a contemporary one either (though that obviously does help current authors) but there’s nothing to stop you giving your thoughts on a classic work either. I know I still find those useful for the classics I’ve not yet got around to reading.

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Author Interview – Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. A huge thank you to both Lynsey Adams (Reading Between the Lines Vlog) and Val Penny for great author, scene, and book photos for the Chandler’s Ford Today interview this week.
Slowly getting back to normal after our Northumberland break. Has been lovely to see Lady catching up with her friends here. All overjoyed to see each other again. Resuming the writing routine too and am making progress. I don’t know why it is but the first week back after a break is always the tough one to get through.

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Hope you have had a good day. Lady loved seeing her pal Coco, the lovely Labradoodle, today so this means she has got to see all of her closest chums this week.

Writing wise, I am so pleased to welcome back Val Penny to Chandler’s Ford Today to discuss her latest adventure in print. Val has written a short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is part of The Ring charity anthology which is raising funds for The Reading Agency.

Val is well known for her crime novels in the DS Hunter Wilson/Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series as well as her Jane Renwick Thrillers. So writing a short story based around a historical object is definitely something new for her!

In a fascinating interview, Val shares how this project began, her own love of historical fiction, and working on this anthology and more. Do check it out.

Author Interview: Val Penny and Historical Short Stories – The Ring

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Another lovely day over the park where Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend again. Lady gets so much out of being with her buddies. Mind you, don’t we all?!

Don’t forget a fabulous interview with Val Penny is on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Will share the link tomorrow. Do check this out, especially if you’re a fan of short fiction, anthologies, and historical fiction as this interview combines the lot! See above.

Marketing Tip: Think consistency. What can you do regularly to share news about what you write? How can you make it entertaining for your readers so it doesn’t just come across as “buy my book”?

Sharing something of your writing process is a good help here. Many of your likely readers will be other writers and we are always fascinated by the process which works for colleagues. I try to think about what will be of value to readers when I do any marketing.

Sometimes a story about how you wrote something is a good way in here. It is my experience folk never mind this.

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler friend today. Nice time had by both.

Today is the eighth anniversary of Dad’s passing – can’t believe it has been that long.

Writing wise, I’m looking forward to welcoming Val Penny back to Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday to discuss her short story, Hunter’s Luck, which is in the new charity anthology, The Ring. The book is raising funds for The Reading Agency. More details on the post later this week. See above.

Am always pleased to celebrate short stories and anthologies! Okay the fact I have work in several may mean I have a slight bias here! I maintain it is good bias to have though…

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Thrilled to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my latest drabble, Unimpressed. Find out why the Lady Frances Haversham has excellent reason to be unimpressed by someone walking through the wall and what she does about it. Hope you enjoy the story.

As you know, I sometimes take part in Open Prose Mic Nights (always good fun) and flash fiction is a perfect form for this. Doesn’t go on too long. Listeners still get complete stories in the allotted time span. Plus you can mix up the mood of what you read to give a good feel for what flash fiction is and can be.

I rehearse my stories using Zoom to help me. I play back my recordings so I can hear how I come across. When I first did this, the playback made me realise I was speaking too fast so now know this is something I have to watch for and not do.

I may not be able to “see myself as others see me” (to paraphrase Robert Burns’ “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”) but I can hear myself as others would hear me. That is so useful.

Anniversaries, sad, happy, historic or what have you, can make great themes for stories. Also have you thought of giving your characters anniversaries which mean a great deal to them and cause them to act in certain ways on certain days.

Story ideas there, I’m sure, especially if other characters have to get to the bottom of why Character A is behaving the way they are on a certain Sunday, for example. Could work as funny tales too. Your main character could have an anniversary about something ridiculous – what are the reasons for it? Do they realise it is ridiculous? Does another character have to show them this?

Fairytales with Bite – Resuming Work

Resuming work after any kind of break, especially a well needed one, is hard. Doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in for this to be true. So how would your magical characters get back to their normal routine after a holiday or even if they’ve been deployed somewhere else for a while? Are they glad to get back or has their break away made them restless for something better? (It may be they think it is something better but this isn’t necessarily the case of course).

How do those they return to welcome their return? Are they glad or are they wary of how your character will be towards them now? Do they have cause to think this? I always thought Frodo moving on into the west with the elves made sense in The Lord of the Rings. He had been damaged so much he wasn’t going to be able to settle in The Shire, whereas Sam Gamgee could. He had someone to return to as well, which made a huge difference.

Assuming all goes well on the resumption of work, how does the break away, for whatever reason, impact on your character? Has it made them better at what they do? Could your magical employers send people off for breaks, knowing they need them every so often so this is something everyone does and is therefore used to doing?

Story ideas there, not least because there could be a character or more who refuses to have a break, feeling they don’t need it or fear it for reasons of their own.

This World and Others – Leaving Your Life Behind

Having a career or any other kind of break can make you feel as if you are leaving your life behind, even if it is for a short while, even it if is for something good like a holiday. How do your characters handle this or is it a case they definitely want to leave their lives behind? What has driven them to feel that way? Does the break help them?

When your characters has to leave their life behind, what is the driving force behind that? Are they successful? What kind of new life do they make for themselves? Is magic involved at all? To help them escape or is it that they’re escaping from?

What are the consequences of leaving a life behind? Who else is impacted by this? Do they try to get your characters back again? Are they successful?

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What Do I Love About Writing?

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Photos of me with Creativity Matters were taken by Adrian Symes.  One promo image of Creativity Matters was kindly supplied by Wendy H Jones. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes, as was the photo of Lady having a wonderful time at Druridge Bay.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Had a fabulous holiday in Northumberland last week. We all enjoyed it. Lady had a wonderful time. All those walkies! Now back to the normal routine – the common thread here? I kept writing in the evenings. Writing is work but it is also a great joy. I have to be ill not to want to do it!

Facebook – General

Hope you have had a good day. It was good to get back to swimming again today. Mind you, it was hard work!

Don’t forget my author newsletter will be out again before too long. To sign up for news, tips, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Writing/Editing Tip: I’ve always found it helpful to get that first draft down, warts and all, before doing any editing on the story or article. I’ve got to see the whole thing written down before I can judge it objectively enough to deal with the inevitable faults. But this is what the first draft is for – get those warts out of your system by writing them out and then stamp on them during the editing process!

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Hope Monday has been kind to you. Lady was overjoyed to see her two best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler, in the park today, especially after a lovely week’s break away in Northumberland last week. It was sweet to see.

Writing wise, am slowly getting back to my usual routines. Was pleased to get plenty of story writing done yesterday, including a submission. Another is fleshing out an idea I’ve had for a while and beginning work on it. Was pleased with how that has gone but plenty still to do. Will be back on this later this week, I hope.

Pleased to be back on Authors Electric with my Out and About – Inspiring Ideas. Sometimes ideas for blogs feed in to each other and my recent Chandler’s Ford Today article (which is longer) explored this theme too. The Authors Electric post gives a good summary though of things which can help inspire your writing when out and about, even if you don’t wander far from home. Hope you find it useful.

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Hope the weekend has got off to a great start. Am on way home from a fabulous week in Northumberland. Great time had by all.

Writing wise, I’ll be welcoming Val Penny back to Chandler’s Ford Today about a short story collection she is contributing to and on something different for her. This anthology is called The Ring which follows what happens to a Roman ring over time. The book will be raising funds for The Reading Agency too. More on this next week.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

What do I love most about writing? Hard to pinpoint exactly but a huge part of this is the sheer joy of meeting the challenge of creating something new which will hopefully resonate with readers.

For flash fiction, my initial thought was to see if I could write 100 word tales. Then the challenge went to could I write 50 worders? Could I write right across the spectrum for flash? Then could I get a collection together?

There are always new things to try in writing, whatever your field. Each article and story I write is a new challenge in and of itself. I do love this. What helps is knowing I can write short stories, flash, articles etc.

The challenge always is can I do something with this topic, this story idea – will they work this time? It keeps you on your creative toes (which I think is beneficial, if only because you don’t rest on your laurels. You also don’t take anything for granted).

It’s a lovely sunny Monday but still a Monday and time for a tale. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Breaking the Chain.

The opening line to this one is based on an exercise I set the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group recently. I only changed one word – the starting one to give my character a name. The name occurred to me as I was drafting the story. That happens.

Sometimes I don’t name a character deliberately (usually when I feel it would have more of an impact keeping a sense of the unknown going usually though that wasn’t the case here).

Why does Louise know her grandson, Mark, smashed the last thing her late husband, Tom, gave her? What will she do about it?

 

Sometimes I link flash stories. For example, my recent one on Friday Flash Fiction, Rivalry, links to my YouTube tale, The List. You can check them both out below. Mind you, I don’t think I would trust Shirabelle any further than I could throw her. See what you think!

Why link stories? Sometimes it is because I can think of a further idea which the 100 word limit in Friday Flash Fiction (the one I prefer to adhere to) won’t allow me to include so I get another longer tale out of it for my YouTube channel (and another post to share like this one!).

Best reason of all though? Simply because it is fun to do this sometimes. I like to mix things up and reusing a character or two is one way I do this.

Just got back from a lovely break in Northumberland. Have followed my own advice in yesterday’s Chandler’s Ford Today on Inspiration Ideas as I have taken lots of photos. Plan to use some of these to inspire flash stories later. Landscape ones will be especially useful I think.

Hope to look up more flash competitions to have a go at soon too.

Goodreads Author Blog – Holiday Reading

I recently had a lovely holiday in gorgeous Northumberland and naturally took plenty to read with me.
Equally naturally, lots of walking and fresh air in forests and on beaches meant I didn’t get to read as much as I’d planned! But there is no way I wouldn’t pack plenty of reading material. You just do, right?

I like to take my Kindle, one or two books, and magazines. All easy to pack, of course.

Mind you, when I could read, I made the most of it. Comfy chair, gorgeous outlook, drink to hand – perfect reading conditions.

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Inspiration Ideas

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Lovely time had here – made the most of the glorious weather. Writing wise, am busy preparing the next author newsletter and a fabulous author interview for Chandler’s Ford Today. More details on that next week. Meantime, I write on (and that is just how how I like things to be).

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Pleased to share Inspiration Ideas on Chandler’s Ford Today this week. Hope you will find it useful.

I share tips on making the most of being out and about over the next few lovely weather months (well, they usually are most of the time, can’t say fairer than that!). The best thing of all is the tips I share here apply just as well if you’re not venturing far from home this summer. The idea behind all of the tips shared here is to spark your inspiration and that is always useful.

Inspiration Ideas

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Lady and I again spent plenty of time in the glorious fresh air and sunshine today. Had a fabulous time. Not too hot, pleasantly warm – just how we both like things. Has tired us both out nicely too.

Writing Tip: Think about how you can use how the good weather makes you feel for characters in your stories. Also could the weather get in their way at all?

Could good weather (dry, pleasantly warm, lots of light etc) be a disadvantage to them? Are they of a species sensitive to light levels for instance? How do they manage their “condition” here? Light isn’t always avoidable! How can your characters here get on with other species for whom light isn’t an issue?

Lady and I were out and about enjoying another glorious day. Hope you have had a good day too. Spring is at its finest right now, I think.

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Inspiration Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. This post will include hints and tips for making the most of being out and about this spring and summer too. See above.

Next author newsletter will be out before we know it. To sign up for writing tips, news, story links and more, do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Newsletter Writing Tip: I find it a great help to write sections of my newsletter during the month. It avoids a last minute rush (and forgetting to do one at all). I also find it useful to think of a rough theme for the month as that will give me ideas for the different sections I write. I also love newsletters which have a theme running through it and find these grip me more when reading them.

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Pleased to be back on Friday Flash Fiction with my new tale, Rivalry. Two fairies are up for a top godmother job. One of them has a wand which keeps backfiring but she knows this is no coincidence. Who will prevail and get the top job here? Are more dirty tricks involved? Find out here.

Hope today has been a positive one for you.

I like to mix up themes for those places where I submit flash fiction regularly. I deliberately write lighter pieces, darker ones and then go back to light again. I like a good mixture in which I read here, as well as what I write myself.

When I am deciding on the mood of a piece, I start by outlining my character because I need to find out why they would be best suited for a light or dark piece. There should be good reasons behind your character’s approach to life (and therefore what they are likely to do and say).

Hope you have had a good day.

Don’t forget my two flash collections (From Light to Dark and Back Again and Tripping the Flash Fantastic) are available via Amazon but you can also get them from The Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop. This is the online shop for my publishers and this link (see below) also means you can buy from independent booksellers such as The HIve (UK) and Barnes and Noble (US).

Wherever you buy from, and not just for me, do leave a review. Brief is fine (and for flash collections suitably appropriate I’d say!).

Fairytales with Bite – Getting Away From It All

One of the joys of getting away from it all is to have a break from the normal routine. So what would your magical characters do to get away from their normal routine? Where would they go? Can they really escape their magical work? Or would it be a case of reducing their magical usage to the bare minimum so they recharge that way? At least they wouldn’t be on call all of the time…

Are there special places the magically inclined can go to recharge? How would these places be protected from those who would want to take advantage of magical characters being on their “down time”?

Also how eager or otherwise are your magical characters about returning to their normal lives again? Did the down time do them good, make them more efficient than before etc? How would that impact on their usual roles?

This World and Others – Exploring Other Worlds – Encouraged or Not?

Does your alien (sci-fi or fantasy) world encourage the exploration of other words or is this strongly discouraged? What are the reasons for the attitude here? Has exploration ever taken place and did it go well or otherwise? Sure to be story ideas there!

What similarities does your setting have with Earth? Could humans ever reach your setting (via time travel, portals, or extending our current scientific abilities for space travel?). Or has your world taken steps to ensure that cannot happen?

How have they encountered humans before to make them want to take those steps – or are they relying on things they have heard about us? We may not be considered the best species everywhere! Mind you, many of us here don’t believe that either or at least feel we could do a lot better than we are!

Where exploring other worlds does happen, which are considered worth exploring by your home setting and why? What is your setting hoping to achieve or gain from this? Again, sure to be story ideas there.

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Motivation, Characters, and Magazines

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Image Credits:- All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good weekend. Lady and I are enjoying the glorious weather at the moment. Writing wise, am busy preparing a splendid author interview I look forward to sharing on Chandler’s Ford Today soon. Am beginning to think about The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. So looking forward to that in August. And it’s business as usual with the flash tales and the blogging so all well here. Hope your writing is going well too.

Facebook – General

Another glorious day to be out and about in the lovely weather. Lady and I have made the most of that.

How do your characters react to unexpected news (good or bad)? Are they the type which like surprises or loathes them? What do their reactions show you about them? This is all useful stuff to help you portray your characters with more depth.

If I know my character hates surprises because they once got caught out by a nasty one, that attitude will come into the story in some way and will have a direct bearing on its outcome. I’m showing this trait for a reason. Whatever I put into a story there has to be a good reason for its inclusion.

Lady and I busy being out and about enjoying the lovely weather. I have a wonderful doggy flask which makes it easy to carry water with me. Her friends seems to like the flask as well. I am sure it is because it is easy for them to use the “lid” to drink from – will fit any snout!

I can’t remember when I first realised it was the characters which were the most important part of any story for me, whether I read them or write them, but I do know it to be true for me. If I can’t be gripped by the characters, the rest of the story will fall apart for me.

I don’t want splendid descriptions or marvellous dialogue unless they are relevant to the characters in some way. Mind you, knowing this helps me to keep on track for my own writing which is no bad thing.

Another gorgeous day today. Am making the most of it, as is Lady.

Writing Tip: It can be hard to motivate yourself to write anything when feeling tired, unwell or anything like that.

So firstly take it easy. The writing will be there for you again once things are back to normal. Trust the process.

Secondly, if you can do any writing at all, do “little bits and pieces”. It’s what I do especially on those hectic days when I know from the start I won’t get a lot of writing done. I focus on what I can do and am always pleased to have written something, even if it is literally just a few lines. I can build on this later.

Hope you’re having a good start to your weekend. Another lovely day weather wise. Delighted to say my lilac is out – has wonderful flowers and a heavenly scent. It us worth the hay-fever, put it that way!

Writing wise, I’ll be looking at Inspiration Ideas for Chandler’s Ford Today next week. After that I’ll be sharing a great author interview.

Did get my competition story off this week, well ahead of the deadline. Will be researching others to have a go at in due course.

I make a point of checking out competition backgrounds to ensure all is as it should be. I also check fees are reasonable compared to the prizes on offer. I don’t enter any competitions which insist I sign away all of my rights either. Saves a lot of grief later!

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

I am fond of writing what I call fairytales with bite which are tales set in a magical world, and where there is usually a twist in the tale. I often use irony in these too so they’re not aimed at the younger end of the market.

I would say these stories are aimed at young adult upwards and for anyone who appreciates the quirky. Often these tales work best when kept short so it is a good match for flash fiction writing. I like this, as you can imagine.

The mood of these can range from lighthearted to dark and that thought inspired the title for my first collection with Chapeltown Books, From Light to Dark and Back Again. Gives a good idea of what to expect!

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It’s Monday. It’s gorgeous and sunny where I am but it is still Monday and time for a tale. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – The List.

Shirabelle’s life is full of lists but this week has good news and bad news. The good news is there is only one item on it. The bad news is should Shirabelle go ahead and do this task? Find out what that is here.

 

One nice thing about flash fiction is it is useful for those times when you would like to write more but don’t have the time to do more or other circumstances are getting in your way. That happens to us all. Even fifty words gives you a story (and you can write less than that in flash to have a complete tale).

Hope to research more flash competitions soon. I have been entering more short story ones so far.
Most popular categories I’ve come across are the 100, 300, and 500 words kinds. Worth practicing these then!

Often with these things you can enter two flash pieces for one fee, especially at the lower word count ranges. I do take advantage of this. May as well!

Goodreads Author Blog – Magazines

I will admit to being biased here but I do see a good quality magazine as being every bit of a good read as a collection, novella, or a novel. The fact I write and copy edit for one (Writers’ Narrative) is the reason for the bias!

I love good magazines because they’re a great, portable read. The very best ones encourage further (book) reading too.

They can also be a fabulous introduction to a topic (and there will always be books on that topic. What reader wouldn’t welcome that? The magazine is a relatively cheap way of working out whether the topic is for you or not but if it is think of all the books you can go on to enjoy).

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Building On What Has Gone Before

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Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you have had a good week. Have been enjoying the special music being played on Classic FM this week to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Music, like stories, resonates, speaks to the soul, and can conjure up memories.

Facebook – General and Chandler’s Ford Today

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal and play with Coco, the lovely and lively Labradoodle, a fantastic way to end her “working week”! Good time had by all.

Pleased to share Building On What Has Gone Before for Chandler’s Ford Today this week. I look at literally building on what has gone before (and how that may have inspired fiction), as well as taking a look at how writers build on the past, in terms of stories which we love and the authors from the past who have inspired us. I also discuss knowing how to build on what has gone before.

Hope you enjoy the post.

Building On What Has Gone Before

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8th May – VE Day
It was good to join in with the two minute silence at midday today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Classic FM then came back on air with Nimrod from the Enigma Variations (Elgar) and then the always moving Abide with Me (beautifully sung too). I am only two generations away from those who fought in the war in various ways (my grandfathers) and one away from those needing to be evacuated (my parents).

Writing wise, I will be sharing Building On What Has Gone Before on Chandler’s Ford Today tomorrow. See above. I will look at how we all do this in various ways and how specifically writers need to do it. I thought of this topic a while ago – the timing with VE week I think has a peculiar aptness to it, which was something I had not planned. These things happen sometimes in writing. Always nice when it does. Serendipity I think (and that is one of my favourite words too – sounds lovely for something which usually is a lovely thing).

Looking forward to sharing a fabulous author interview on CFT later in May. More details nearer the time. Next month too I hope to get along to an open evening The Chameleons are holding to celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. It is a good chance for them to show what they do and to demonstrate how they need volunteers not just for on the stage but behind it too.

 

Hope you have had a good day. Lady got to see her Hungarian Vizler pal today and had a lovely time. Lady is always buoyed up when she sees any of her pals. Mind you, so am I!

Don’t forget the May issue of Writers’ Narrative is now out. Its theme is world building, which can be done for the shorter fiction forms like flash fiction. My article is about that very thing! Do check it out.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Hope to be back on Friday Flash Fiction soon but what I have loved about it is how it has helped me rediscover my love of the classic drabble form of flash fiction (aka the 100 word story). It was the drabble which was my introduction to flash fiction at all when CafeLit issued a 100 word challenge. I am so glad I took the baton up there!

It has led to two books being published by Chapeltown Books, with a third accepted, my writing for Friday Flash Fiction, being able to enter more competitions because I write flash, running flash workshops (including for the Association of Christian Writers) and so much more besides.

As with all flash fiction I write, I sort out who my character will be first, what their story is, and get the first draft down. I worry about the word count later. I start on that by removing my wasted words first and then look at whether I can improve the way I’ve expressed things. The answer to that one is almost always yes, by the way!

8th May – VE Day

Hope the day has been a good one. Has been lovely listening to stories from veterans and their families on the radio today re VE Day. Stories are made up of moments, the important ones.

For flash fiction writers, our challenge is to focus on one vital moment. For the longer flashes (say 750 to 100 words) you might have room for two. But given the story will be showing why these things matter to your characters, you don’t want to dilute the impact these things have on them.

Always nice to meet a keen reader. Did so today and sold copies of my books – nothing to dislike there!

Flash Fiction Tip: Think about how you can get your characters to show the theme in action. If I’m writing about dishonesty, say, I will show my character being dishonest. It gets the point across well and doesn’t use up much of your precious word count.

Plus “seeing” the character doing something or “listening” to what they are saying is by far the best way of getting something across. I want to see characters being dishonest, say, rather than being told they are.

Fairytales with Bite – History in the Magical World

What history is there in your magical setting? Would your characters see our fairytales as history or do they have unrelated history and what would this be? I would expect there to have been some magical battles.

Our own history shows there are always clashes between powers and even more so when someone tries to expand what powers they have. (I don’t believe it is a coincidence so many of our greatest fantasy works mirror the kinds of wars we have had over the centuries. Sadly, we have too much source material to draw on). How did these occur and what was the outcome? What could the outcome have been?

As I write this, we’re thinking about VE Day, the 80th anniversary, and there are a number of special events going on around the country at local and national levels.

Would your magical setting commemorate any of its history or do they try to ignore it?

Has your setting learned the lessons for its historical past or does it keep on repeating the same old mistakes? (This does sound familiar territory, does it not?!).

This World and Others – Archive Keeping

Archive keeping is so important. So much history would be lost without it. How does your setting manage its archives? Are these open to the public to inspect? Who handles the archives and in what forms are they? Written, audio, film etc or a combination?

How would your characters go about getting a job in archive keeping? Or are these jobs kept only for the select few the powers that be can rely on to keep certain things quiet?

Would archives in a magical setting “prove” our fairytales to be true? Might not want other beings, such as pesky humans, finding that out.

Could any of your characters use what they find in the archives to change the course of their story, their setting’s history even? If they find something out with potentially damaging consequences to the powers that be, what would they do about it?


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